North of the Alps, where the Reformation was upsetting old habits, an artist's life was far from being easy.

Reformers made bonfires of sacred pictures and sculptured wooden altar-pieces.

Indeed the Reformation was a cruel blow to artists, for it took away Church patronage and made them dependent for employment upon merchants and princes.

Except at courts or in great mercantile towns they fared extremely ill.

Altar-pieces were rarely wanted, and there were no more legends of saints to be painted upon the walls of churches.
The demand for portraiture, on the other hand, was increasing, whilst the growth of printing created a new field for design in the preparation of woodcuts for the illustration of books.